A Homemade Christmas

For Christmas this year, since money is tight I decided to make Sophie her Christmas presents. I think they turned our near perfect. I made a small quilt with fabric I got on sale, I gleaned some ideas off the interned from THIS websight. I found a quilt pattern and color scheme that I really liked so I followed the tutorial and this is what the finished project looks like.

I decided I wanted to make Sophie a pair of mittens so I found some fleece in the dollar bin at Hobby Lobby and again searched the Internet for a PATTERN or tutorial and this it what the finished project look like. I added the ribbon hoops and snap cord so that Sophie won’t be able to lose her mittens; I think they turned our lovely.

The last project I made was quiet book; when I hear the words “quiet book” I think of a book I can take to church to keep Sophie quiet, well I wanted something that I could use outside of church so this is what I came up with. I got a few patterns/ideas from THIS web sight, and then some of the ideas came strait from me (believe it or not). I love how most of the pages turned out. I still need to make a cover for the book itself but hey at least the pages are finished… right?

The Frogs Tongue snaps to the flies

The Alligators teeth zip and un-zip

This Caterpillar Velcros on and off

This fish has a magnet in him so that he can be magneted to the fish bowl

The Monkey Swing from tree to tree. I forgot to take a picture of it but if you pull back the grass on the left there is a tiger hidden back there.

All the Farm animals Velcro on and off, the barn door opens, and the whole barn itself is a pocket for all the animals to be tucked away in.

I guess now I should start on Stewart’s gifts, I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

Sophie in the Snow

We had a freak snow storm last Wednesday, December 7th, which made it impossible for us to have our regular Wednesday night meetings at the church. I being the YW president had planned to have our YW in Excellence program that night, and was excited to get it done and out of the way, but since it snowed we had to postpone it. So after cursing the snow for a while, Stewart, Sophie and I headed outside to play in it. This was Sophie’s first real experience with snow, since last year she was only 2 months old in December. She had a lot of fun playing in it and experiencing the cold. We had a lot of fun making snow angels, and having a snowball fight. I am grateful for impromptu family moments, they make the best memories.

I was shoveling the driveway when I looked over to see how Stewart and Sophie were coming along with their snow man what I saw was Stewart focused on his snowman and Sophie stuck in a snow drift. She lost her footing and face-planted herself in the snow. If you look closely you can she the outline of her nose, eyes, and lips.



A short video of Sophie in the snow

Christmas Traditions

We have a tradition in our home to put up our Christmas tree the fist Monday after Thanksgiving. This year was lot of fun because Sophie was old enough to help, or hinder which ever way you look at it. We had fun watching Sophie, her eyes lit up when she saw the lights on the tree and then she got even more excited when we started putting ornaments on the tree. She kept saying over and over, pretty pretty. We decided since we did not have any non-breakable bulbs we would leave the glass bulbs off the tree this year and decorate it with all of my childhood ornaments I collected each year for Christmas growing up as well as some Stewart and I have added to the collection since being married. One of our traditions is to get a new tree ornament each year that represents that year. We have added an ornament with Stewarts Medical school initials on it, WVSOM, one with the first town we lived in when we moved to West Virginia, Lewisburg, one we found in the parking lot at the Holt Arena walking home from school after we got married, one with the picture of the Boise Temple on it, since that is where we got married, one with Sophie’s little newborn hand print on it, and many more. This year Stewarts new ornament was little Bateman ornaments, since he keeps telling me he is Bateman, his answering machine on his cell phone even makes reference to the fact he is Bateman. Sophie is into Big Bird so she got a Big Bird ornament that she finds every morning and pulls it off the tree to carry around with her throughout the day. I did not get an ornament this year, I can’t seem to find one that fits me, maybe I will find one during the after Christmas sales, or I will make one since I have been big into crafting this year, guess we’ll see. Below are some pictures of Stewart and Sophie decorating the tree, I was there but someone had to take the pictures.

Another one of our Traditions is to make Graham Cracker houses, with friends each year. This year we invited the Stacy family and Larry Petrie over for dinner and festivities. We had a lot of fun, even thought trying to build a house with a toddler demanding your attention was tricky. Stewart and I built three town houses, the Stacy family built an LDS temple, and Larry built a church with a nativity on the backside. This was Larry’s first time ever participating in GC house building; I think he enjoyed it along with everyone else. I think this is one of our favorite traditions, we always make sure to build the house as a couple so that we can learn how to communicate better with one another. Good times… below are some pictures of us with our finished projects. Enjoy!

Larry Petire, Stewart North, and Brian Stacy

Larry's wife lives in Idaho so she is missing, Becky North, and Laura Stacy

Must Try Recipe

Tomato-Basil Parmesan Soup

I made this soup the other day for dinner and it was soooooo good, I had to share.

Click HERE to find the recipe

PS: the picture is not mine I borrowed it from the above blog

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we drove to Lewisburg to spend some time with our friends, the Bishops. Melanie did (and always does) an amazing job preparing a traditional Thanksgiving meal complete with 8 pies. We always give her a hard time about preparing so many pies and she always responds with, “it’s not Thanksgiving without trying a piece of all the different pies”. I do have to say her homemade from scratch Lemon Meringue pie was amazing and by far the favorite of the day. We had a great time, and like always when we get together with Stewart’s classmates the conversation is all about medicine and the things each are learning. After dinner and a good visit we came home and spent the evening quietly.

On Black Friday instead of going shopping with our non-existent money, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and went hiking in Fayetteville, WV. We found some fun trails that had a beautiful view of the landscape and had a great time as a family. We hiked two different trails Stewart carried Sophie on the first one and then we traded and I carried Sophie on the other. The trail I carried Sophie on was downhill until we turned around and then it was all up hill. I was so tired by the time we got to the top, we all cheered when we got to the car because we were not sure we were going to make it back; our legs muscles were sore for the next few days after.

We enjoyed the long weekend we got to spend with Stewart; time with him is scarce these days.

Stewart standing by the water fall we passed along the trail

Proof I took part in toting Sophie around



Sophie eating some snacks, and resting before we packed up and started another trail

Best family picture of the day

Stewart and Sophie

November

The highlight for the month of November was Stake Conference. Elder Neal L. Anderson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles came. Saturday evening I (this is Stewart writing) was able to shake his hand and thank him for coming. He was, all at once, normal, every-day, and ordinary, and yet when he shared his witness of the risen Lord I felt a power that I have seldom felt before. What a blessing to have apostles and prophets once again on the earth! The conference was refreshing and invigorating.

Earlier on in the month Sophie and I had 2 daddy-daughter dates. One weekend Becky had a sleepover with the young women in the ward. So that left Sophie and I home alone for the evening. I cooked dinner…and when I say I cooked I mean we went out for fast food. We played games and read books. Then the following weekend Becky was asked to chaperone at a church youth dance in Charleston. So Sophie and I were once again on our own. I cooked dinner again, and we played and read more books. Sophie loves reading books. She likes to take my finger and point to the animals and objects on the pages. If it’s an animal I make the sound of the animal, if it’s an object I say its name.

On Friday I finished my internal medicine rotation. It was my most challenging rotation yet. The environment was chaotic and unsupportive, but I guess that’s the real world, not school. I learned a lot, but I hope my next rotation is a little less stressful. Tomorrow I start my obstetrics rotation. I’m excited to deliver babies.

Speaking of babies, Sophie is now walking pretty well. She still falls down now and then, but she can go just about anywhere she wants to. She tries to say lots of words. Most of them require some interpretation by her parents. Water, for example, is ‘wawa’, grandma and grandpa are ‘gunga,’ and actually the telephone is also ‘gunga’ because that’s how she interacts with all of her ‘gungas.’ Mommy, Daddy, and Sophie are all ‘Dadda,’ no matter how many times we tell her that Becky is ‘Momma.’ There is however one word that she has mastered: ‘No!”

We are looking forward to the holiday season and wish you and yours all the best.